bio balls and live rock

I don't want to jump on the band wagon but I have to concur Bio Balls
are nothing special. Live Rock is great. Not only do you get all the
benefical bacteria you'll need you'll also get a number of other
beneficial creatures as well. However llive rock is not very
environmentally friendly. Most of what's available to us is ripped out
of the natural reefs.

Have you considered a fluidized bed filter. I can't think of a much
better type of biological filter. It's small and can handle an
incredible bioload, little to no maintenance. It's also considerably
cheaper than filling a sump with live rock, a lot cheaper!

However if your still want to to add live rock into your aquarium ynd
feel good doing it take a look at garf.org There you can order plenty
of garf grunge as well as way of making your own "live rock" called
aragocrete. This is a site that really knows how to go about making a
marine aquarium also environmentally friendly.

There are many choices out there some are cheaper, environmentally
freindly and more effective in the end you need to find what best suits
your needs.

Best of luck and keep us posted.